Lost cycle of players forced U.S. soccer to retool

Updated 11:49 pm, Saturday, May 31, 2014

Mix Diskerud (10) is the lone current U.S. player who was on the U-23 squad that didn't make the 2012 Olympics.

Mix Diskerud (10) is the lone current U.S. player who was on the U-23 squad that didn't make the 2012 Olympics.

Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, Associated Press

Image 2 of 4

Freddy Adu, once a phenom, is now without a job in soccer.

Freddy Adu, once a phenom, is now without a job in soccer.

Photo: Frederick Breedon, Getty Images

Image 3 of 4

Mix Diskerud, celebrating his goal against Azerbaijan, says the 2012 defeat made him stronger.

Mix Diskerud, celebrating his goal against Azerbaijan, says the 2012 defeat made him stronger.

Photo: Josh Edelson, AFP/Getty Images

Image 4 of 4

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - MAY 27: Head coach Jurgen Klinsmann of the United States stands on the sidelines before their game against Azerbaijan at Candlestick Park on May 27, 2014 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) less

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - MAY 27: Head coach Jurgen Klinsmann of the United States stands on the sidelines before their game against Azerbaijan at Candlestick Park on May 27, 2014 in San Francisco, California. ... more

Photo: Ezra Shaw, Getty Images

Lost cycle of players forced U.S. soccer to retool

1 / 4

Back to Gallery

Mix Diskerud is a noteworthy member of the U.S. national team that will try to find World Cup success in Brazil this month.

Not because the Norwegian American - who came off the bench to score the winning goal against Azerbaijan at Candlestick Park on Tuesday - is wearing the No. 10 jersey that spent so many years on the back of Landon Donovan (though that's also quite interesting). But because Diskerud is the only member of the United States' "lost generation" of men's players to make the World Cup roster.

The lost class of players is one of the challenges that Jurgen Klinsmann faced in trying to shape a World Cup roster. He recently described the "huge disappointment" sustained by the young American players as one of the biggest hurdles the program faces.

"Mix is coming from a group of guys that we had real trouble with getting to the next level, and I mean our Olympic team that was supposed to go to London," Klinsmann said after the Azerbaijan game. "There were a few guys - very special players coming with that team - and for whatever reason, it just didn't work out the way it should have."

Klinsmann's assessment was surprisingly blunt, and rare in the world of soccer, in which coaches who have control over programs try to smooth over any failings and gaps in development. But Klinsmann is the rare national team coach who has job security through not one, but two, World Cup cycles. His charge is to develop a generation of players, which is why a lost one hurts so much.

Two years ago, on a Monday night in Nashville, the American under-23 team - coached by Caleb Porter - finished tied with El Salvador in a must-win game to qualify for the London Olympics. The tie, following a shocking 2-0 loss to Canada, dropped the U.S. team to third in its group and out of the Olympics.

It was a blow to the program. Though Olympic men's soccer, an under-23 tournament, is not the high-profile event that it is for the women's game, it is critical in the development of a team and young players who are asked to succeed in the international spotlight.

In 2008, Lionel Messi led Argentina to a gold medal. Brazil's Neymar led his team to the final at Wembley Stadium in 2012. Though Mexico's national team has struggled since winning gold in London, many members of its current World Cup roster played on that Olympic team. And that experience probably will benefit the Mexican team when it begins the pressure of World Cup play.

In contrast, Klinsmann - who was less than a year into his tenure when the Olympic failure occurred - found that many of his young players could not recover from the blow in Nashville.

"We lost a few on that path that should actually be part of this group now, this inner-circle group," Klinsmann said. "All these very talented kids. They fell in a hole, a deep one.

"Because of what happened there, we desperately now, from the senior level, look at that generation. And we want them to come through and grow into the senior team. They struggled with that because of that huge disappointment."

For his World Cup camp, Klinsmann called in only three players from that team: Diskerud, Terrence Boyd and Joe Corona. Only Diskerud made the final cut for Brazil. Other members of that team, such as Juan Agudelo, Teal Bunbury, Brek Shea and Freddy Adu, failed to impress not only Klinsmann but also others in the soccer world. Adu is without a contract. Shea got little playing time for Stoke City.

To hear Klinsmann tell it, instead of finding resiliency and a determination to improve their game, the monumental failure in Nashville derailed many of the young Americans.

Diskerud, in contrast, thrived while playing in Norway.

"You grow a lot from certain experiences, and definitely one like that," he said. "That was a goal in my life, to reach the Olympics. Another goal was to reach the World Cup. So now I am part of that."

He is one of only six players on the World Cup roster who are young enough to have qualified for an Olympic U-23 team. Five of them play in Europe - only defender DeAndre Yedlin plays in the MLS, in Seattle. Three of the young players are German Americans who play professionally in Germany, part of the criticism that Klinsmann appears to favor players with German roots over homegrown Americans.

Klinsmann would argue that the gap caused by the "lost generation" is one of the reasons that he had to look elsewhere for youth. The average age on the American roster is 27; it includes those six players who are 24 or younger and 10 players who are 29 or older. But only five players on the roster have experience playing in a World Cup: Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Jozy Altidore and DaMarcus Beasley.

As with all topics involving the U.S. roster, the question of the "lost generation" circles back to the omission of Donovan. He was the leader of an American generation that wasn't lost, that produced beyond expectations. With the huge gap in the American development, why wouldn't Klinsmann try to fill it with the most experienced American player ever?

Instead, the lone survivor of the lost generation wears Donovan's No. 10.

Latest from the SFGATE homepage:

Click below for the top news from around the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our newsletters to be the first to learn about breaking news and more. Go to 'Sign In' and 'Manage Profile' at the top of the page.